France, Russia Should Not Be Rivals Though Crimea's Secession Unacceptable

French presidential hopeful said that France and Russia should communicate instead of being rivals but France has to reaffirm its position that Crimean reunification with Russia is a violation of the international law.

PARIS, November 25 (Sputnik) – France and Russia should communicate instead of being rivals but France has to reaffirm its position that Crimean reunification with Russia is a violation of the international law, French presidential hopeful Alain Juppe said on Friday.

"I agree with what [presidential hopeful] Francois Fillon said – Russia and we should not become rivals – that it is a big country, our neighbor and we should communicate with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. But we should speak with him openly – to say that annexation of Crimea blatantly violated the international law," Juppe told the BFMTV broadcaster.

On November 24, Fillon and Alain emerged as the winners of the first round of The Republicans primaries with Fillion securing 44 percent of center-right voters, far ahead of his rival. The second and final round of The Republicans primaries between Fillon and Juppe is set for November 27.

The first round of presidential elections in France is scheduled for April 23, 2017.

The Crimean peninsula seceded from Ukraine and reunified with Russia after more than 96 percent of local voters supported the move in a referendum in March 2014. Ukraine, as well as the European Union, the United States and their allies, did not recognize the move and consider the peninsula to be occupied territory.